


Underwater lights

by fishy_noot



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Bioshock AU, Jean is an experiment, M/M, Marco is a scientist, Minor Character Death, Rapture (Bioshock), death of a kid
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-09
Updated: 2016-06-09
Packaged: 2018-07-14 01:42:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,835
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7146989
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fishy_noot/pseuds/fishy_noot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The experiment started incredibly well and nothing seemed to be out of order. This was Marco's first project and he was in charge of checking the vitals during the night shift. The embrio developed fast and in no time it looked like a kid.</p>
<p>His father had warned him to not get attached to the prototype. He had said it to himself more times than he could think, yet Marco failed. He couldn’t stop seeing it as a normal kid, the little brother he always wanted to have. Marco fell into the routine of looking at it breathe. It’s eyes permanently closed, his head and back attached to the neuronal controllers, his mouth and nose covered by the oxygen mask.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Underwater lights

“Ah… is this recording? Ah, oh yes it is! So, 21st of October, 1956. My room. And... Oh gosh! I don’t think i’ll get used to these audio diaries! They just make my voice sound so strange... Anyway! Today i want to start recording a diary! My efforts finally paid off and father accepted me in the new project. The experiment has run smooth for now and the embryo is developing steadily and fast. Faster than it would on a woman’s womb.

I am so excited to be able to work with such great minds! I met Dr. Tennenbaum today and she's so intimidating! She look at you as if they knew all your tiny secrets… I hope not because i would be in trouble… I know that Rapture uses the fancy slogan of do what you want, think what you want but i know many people here wouldn’t accept my… preferences. It’s too engraved in the culture we come from but it’s probably better than on the surface… Well, i think it was good for today, i hope next week i’ll have more to tell!”

“27th October, 1956. My room. I am finally getting used to my tasks… and getting used to recording stuff! Who would have guessed. Although i am still not used to hearing my voice and i don’t think i’ll ever be! So, as i am still a newbie i am only in charge of check ups and such. I have been assigned the afternoon and night shift, which is great because i can sleep more in the mornings and no one is around in the later hours so it's rather relaxing.

On the first part of the afternoon i get to learn with the most admirable minds of the world and father has to help me out so much with everything... but everybody tells me it’s normal to be rather lost on the first days. When everybody leaves i am left in charge of checking the prototype’s vitals. For now things look all right and there’s not that much to do, i only have to check the nutrient and oxygen flow through the umbilical cord. The prototype is too small for us to check on his blood pressure flow and such, so everything will remain like this until the embryo reaches the 9 month equivalent and we can cut the umbilical cord and start attaching the plates and neuronal connectors. So i guess this means it’s time for me to go to sleep today. Good night…”

“31st of December, 1957. The laboratory... It’s the first New year eve I am celebrating it alone but I don’t mind it as much as I thought i would. It’s...quiet in the laboratory, specially when you get used to all the beeping noises from the machines and i find it relaxing. I guess it’s good i never liked parties that much. Oh, and changing topics, the prototype just started moving, meaning the muscles started to develop. I find it rather cute, specially when it’s still so small and the head so big. The extremities are developing at a good rate and it should have fingernails soon! I find it rather fascinating... well, the new year countdown is about to start, according to the radio, and i should be checking on the vitals again soon so this is it for now.”

“14th of march, 1957. On my bed. The prototype's birth is scheduled in less than a month and i am starting to feel nervous. I will not take part in the operation itself but it's a crucial moment in the project’s development. Everything could go down the drain… well, at least now it would only be a 6 month loss. There are bigger and more complex operation scheduled for when the prototype grows and losing it then would probably feel even worse, but so is the way of science. That reminds me of this afternoon. I heard Doctor Suchong and Tenenbaum talking about a new project similar to this one but with a different procedure in the prototype development. I hope both come out successful… Alright, time to sleep.”

“6th of April, 1957. My room again. The project is going great! The prototype has reached the equivalent of a 9 month old and it looks as if it had just been born, in just 6 months! I must admit it is kinda cute but father has warned me about not getting attached to it under no circumstances. It makes sense as things could go wrong at any moment, but i just feel kinda proud about it. Maybe it’s just because it is my first project…

The umbilical cord is going to be cut tomorrow. We’ll have to attach the breathing mask and the nourishment injector, as well as start adding the plates where the neuronal and spinal controllers will be attached. I am so nervous... this is quite an important part of the project and the prototype could die so easily. Ah, i have to go to sleep or else i will regret it tomorrow… Ok, goodnight!”

“7th of April. The laboratory… The operation went smoothly, everyone has left and i am in charge of monitoring the vitals for the whole night. Right now… the oxygen levels run at 2 liters per minute and the breaths per minute is 42, so that at least is working fine. The RR is slightly high, as well as the heart frequency, in 130 beats per second but i was told this would be normal after the intervention. Nothing looks wrong, even if i keep checking again and again for a single thing out of order.

I-i feel so conflicted. In one hand i feel proud the project is going well and in the other… I just realized, when seeing that small baby crying with his first breaths… for it to be immediately put to sleep with anesthesia and have his skull perfored to implant something that will probably turn it into a war puppet… i wish that things had gone wrong… to keep him from more suffering. I am just looking at the prototype, this little thing, already with a breathing mask and too many cables on him and i think of the life it will never have. I keep thinking of father’s words: don't get attached to the project. I have to remember this or else i won't be able to keep working.”

“Oh gosh! I can’t believe it’s the 21st of October again! This time of 1957, time goes by so fast! The project is running smoothly and without incidents for now. The prototype looks like a 4 year old now and i must admit he looks adorable. The spinal plate and all the cables attached to it make it look as if it had wings, and reminds me of these figures i saw in the surface churches. It just looks so pure and innocent... 

My tone of voice probably makes it rather obvious but i failed in my purpose of not getting attached.… I completely failed. I know. Father told me, i told myself a million times. But i can’t stop seeing him as the little brother i always wanted. I am always the last to leave and i just, I got into the custom of talking to it after so many hours of silence. I tell my daily life and my worries, just like these recordings and i know it's rather useless as the prototype is permanently asleep but it creates an emotional link. I should will myself to stop but i just end up doing it unconsciously…"

“ahhhh....14th of November, 1957…My room. I should have told this to father, but i can’t will myself to voice it I...it… it woke up. It shouldn’t have but it woke up. I looked into it’s eyes and they were so pretty....With a glow typical of the little sisters Dr. Tenenbaum was talking about. Gosh… I have too many feelings for this kid, i even gave it a name…Jean, it just sounds right in my head. But i am getting carried away. It woke up and i panicked for a second. I should probably have put a dose of the sedative, but i just couldn’t get my eyes away from theirs. I got close and rested my hand on the tank’s glass and… he pressed his hand against mine, well, against the glass right next to mine… i started talking to him again, like i always do when i am alone with Jean on my shifts… I didn’t know what to do so i kept talking and it just seemed like he understood me…Jean closed his eyes again and i am secretly hoping for him to wake up again, i just....Gosh this could just go so wrong I need to solve this…”

“31st of December 1957, the laboratory. I am alone again, well, with Jean. Another new year’s eve and i am so glad i came here. I know how much i despise parties, i don’t need to remind myself of that. Jean is awake again. I no longer supply the anesthesia. I talk about things and he seems to look interested so i keep talking, it’s… relaxing. He keeps growing steadily, and it’s almost visible by each day. Now Jean is pretending to be asleep, and i realized he’s been pretending to be asleep all the time. He’s very clever, this little fella… Ah, Father started supplying small doses of ADAM to modify his genetic structure and i am a bit scared with the outcome. I know i have no opinion on this, but they are slowly turning him into a war machine and i really really hope they are not planning on touching his brain’s emotional capability. I am just an assistant and i can’t get access to the information… there’s nothing i can do about this now. I cannot go back to how things were… Ironically, Jean is the only one i can consider my friend here and yet is the only person i can’t talk to directly… The little angel…”

“9th of January, 1958. The laboratory. The date for the stomach transplant is approaching and i am so scared. Jean is aware of this, i can see it in his eyes. He knows something is worrying me and i think he knows it’s about him. I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep for a while.”

“25th of January, 1958, the laboratory. Well… Today has been rather stressful. As i told you, yesterday was the day scheduled for the implant operation. I can’t stop feeling guilty… they took a little sister’s stomach and implanted it on Jean. They left the little girl to die, with only the anesthesia keeping her from the pain...Not even bothering to administrate a painless death. I- I'm scared… When i signed up for a career in science i thought it was about new discoveries and about making people's life easier...Not about… creating war tools out of living beings… Anyway, Jean is recuperating fast and i really , really hope he will be fine after this…

I stayed again to check on his vitals and everything looks fine, better than fine actually. For now he will stay on the bed until the incision is healed and it’s safe to submerge him again. If he woke up now we could have a chat… I guess for now i’ll be happy with keeping my monologue going...”

“1st of February, 1958, my bed…I feel so exhausted. I..Jean woke up again today… they reattached all the neuronal controllers and submerged him yesterday. He was… different. He didn't seem mad, just...Sad. Like he was aware of what they… what we had done to him. To her… ah… I don't think I can keep going like this for long… Good night.”

“7th of April, 1958, I can't believe it’s just been a year since we cut Jean's umbilical cord. He looks like a 10 year old kid. Gosh! It’s so bizarre. Truly ADAM is a splendid discovery…The experiments keeps going smoothly and father keeps praising me for my dedication and motivation… But I have to I really want to make sure Jean is… That they are not harming him.

Yet, I have a good announcement for once! I looked for a sign language book and started learning and teaching Jean and now we can both make some very simple conversations…It’s so fun! He was telling me that he likes my dots. Probably referring to my freckles. 

On another note, things have been slightly turbulent in Rapture. Fontaine futuristics has been gaining too much power and no one can't stop him now. This could go very wrong…”

“18th of June… The kitchen... Father is recuperating alright from the burns he received in the accident yet his arm will be forever damaged. I still can’t believe he was about to give his life away for me… As of the events i didn’t record any diary those days, things have been so stressful lately...and then just on my 20th birthday a gas tank exploded and almost killed both of us. Thanks to father I came out almost unharmed but he is in a rather bad condition, his face’s right side is completely burnt and he lost his eye, as well as his right hand. 

I must admit that our relationship hadn’t been the best since we arrived to rapture so many years ago but this accident somehow brought us back together. I haven’t been to the lab in two days and I have been given permission to stay at home until father is fully healed. I want to take care of him, but I am worried about Jean… I thought about going to the lab to visit and tell him i wouldn’t be there for a while but someone is probably covering my spot and i don’t think they would be happy if they knew about my little conversations with Jean.”

“20th of June, the kitchen again. Father woke up today and we talked for a bit… He asked me for the date and then wished me happy birthday… Well, 4 days late but who would have guessed a gas tank would have exploded suddenly on my 20th birthday. He even gave me a little present, this beautiful set of neck chains with two separate pieces of wings. He told me that it once belonged to grandmother and that she gave it to him when he married. Now he wants me to have it and do the same when i find the right person… This just made me so happy and… I know he used person instead of girl, he corrected himself and it was so subtle yet he managed to convey his acceptance and I just feel so relieved. Oh, i should go check on father now…”

“31st of August. My room. I and father have talked today about his future and the recent situation in Rapture. Things are going terribly wrong. Fontaine tilted on his favour the balance of power and plans on making this his kingdom and the most probable outcome is bloodshed. Father told me he wants to leave. Rapture is no longer the utopia it once was and if things get more violent, father wouldn’t be able to survive in his physical state. He has plenty of money from his work here to leave and live peacefully on his birth town, a little fisher village in Italy. It would probably do him some good to see some sunlight again. I know he is unhappy here. I told him i want to stay, at least until the project is finished. 

I also confessed that i developed an emotional bond with the prototype, to the point of giving him a name and my conversations with it. Father was, like usually, rather unreadable by his features but then he just said: I’m glad, and you should see him soon. And i think so too. I am going to go back to the lab tomorrow and start working again now that father is able to move more and be more independent in most tasks… I keep thinking of Jean and wondering if he’s alright. He was present in the accident, but i don’t know what has happened to him in these two months. Ok, it’s time to sleep. Good night.”

“1st of September, my room… Jean is ok, but… Gosh this is quite embarrassing… He grew up so much and in the two month period he hit puberty and i’ve never been so conscious of his nakedness before. I hope no one noticed, and probably no one did as they were all so focused on their tasks.  
He and I talked tonight when everybody had left. At first he was lightly agitated. He told me he didn’t know if I was ok, if I was injured. It pained me to know he had been worrying all this time without an answer. Maybe i should have come sooner, i feel so terrible. Even so he seemed to understand, even through our clumsy sign talk… Oh, it’s late and i should go to sleep. Goodnight.”

“17th november, 1958… ADAM, as it turns out, is rather addictive and has unexpected side effects that make it more dangerous than helpful and i am glad now that i didn’t take any ADAM Genetic modifications yet. Suddenly people with powerful, dangerous abilities are desperate enough to kill for a drop of the substance. I am so glad father left on October instead of waiting to see the project finished. Tensions have been growing steadily and i guess it’s a matter of time for Rapture to collapse.

On a happier note, Jean and I have been improving steadily our sign vocabulary and I can even tell him jokes. I ask him questions of what he feels inside the tank and he literally told me he feels wet. I used to call him a little angel but now that i think about it the cables look more like demon's wings. He has to be one with that sense of humor. It should be added that his height shot up this last month and now he looks even taller than myself, but it’s hard to say with him floating and such. It seems ADAM administrations on him haven’t hooked him up on it, luckily. And he doesn’t present the bulbous swellings splicers tend to show. Maybe it’s due to his stomach transplant? or that he has been subject to i since the moment he was created? I hope he will be ok once the cables are removed from him. 

“31st of December, 1958. The laboratory. It's me, Jean and the audio recorder again. I secretly hope that next year will be the same, this time maybe we can even give each other a hug when the new year comes. Rapture is a mess, tension has been growing even on the laboratory. Luckily, i only have to deal with it for a bit before everybody leaves. I was even invited to this new year party but i put work as an excuse to not go. I’m already getting things ready to leave as soon as this project is finished. I took all the saved money from the bank account and even bought a gun and some ammo just in case. Splicers have been coming out of anywhere and it’s no longer safe to walk through Rapture. I am planning on taking Jean with me. I still don’t know how i am going to run away from the lab with him but i hope i’ll find a way. The date planned to extract him from the tank is the 27th of January and i’m going to have to find a way then. Oh, it seems the countdown is about to start, i can hear it on the radio. They are recording from this party and people seem to be having so much fun...OH What?... Something exploded on the radio i gotta go-”

“2nd of January, the laboratory. It seems war has finally been declared. The attack on Cohen’s party marked the beginning of it and it seems it’s going to be a while before it ends and I don’t want to be here to see it. I hope no one barges into the house and finds the savings but i don’t want to leave Jean alone. It has been decided to move forward the removal procedure on Jean to tomorrow so i should probably go and sleep some before it all starts.”

“3rd of January, the lab. Ah… This is so bizarre i can’t believe it worked for now. I still have my heart pounding from the adrenaline….

The procedure went as planned, Jean was extracted and all cables were removed as well as the metallic plates. He bleed too much but otherwise he seemed to recuperate surprisingly fast. A serum to cancel his fast growing modifications was administered, as well as something to wake him up and something akin to briefs to finally cover his groin, better late than never i guess. Things started to go wrong when the procedural experiments began. Jean had been given fire, telekinesis, electrical and ice genetic modification plasmids as weapons, making him very powerful. They took in account that the implanted stomach with a slug would probably give him self administration of both adam and eve in order to use the plasmids, but they didn’t expect his body would be able to freely use all of them at once and even with having his hands bound. The room exploded, breaking a pipe and starting to flood the whole room from where he was the only one to come out alive. 

The rest of the team was waiting outside and we all thought we were going to die there but as it seemes Jean had used all of his energy in that attack and fell unconscious right after having stepped out of the way. As nobody knew what to do, i managed to articulate the idea of injecting venom on him to make as he was too unstable to be left free. People seemed to buy the idea. I took one of the sleeping serums and gave it to him and told them to evacuate as the place was now completely destroyed.

Now i am waiting for Jean to wake up so we can start moving towards home, get the supplies and reach one of the submarine launchers towards the surface. It’s probably going to be easier said than done but we can either die trying or die waiting… Now that Jean finally looks like the human being he is, without all those cables around him, it just makes me want to keep fighting. Things can be so much better for both of us… Oh, Jean, are you waking up? Wait let me help you...”

**Author's Note:**

> This idea has been slowly growing in my head and i really wanted to write it. I feel like this could become something more complex and elaborate but for o leave the editing for later. If you want to add a comment or suggestion (like if i should add some bioshock explanations or if you found the pacing too fast, etc.) you are more than welcome and you can also find me on my [ jeanmarco tumblr ](http://pololotp.tumblr.com/).
> 
> Also, I was wondering: is it pedophilia if someone falls in love with a 2 year old that looks like a 20 year old?


End file.
